Receiving traffic update information and reroute information in a mobile vehicle

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a method for receiving traffic update information and reroute information from a telematics service call center in a mobile vehicle. The mobile vehicle monitors a satellite broadcast signal for the traffic update information. The traffic update information is extracted. The mobile vehicle determines whether the traffic update information is relevant to its current route. If the traffic update information is deemed relevant, an alert is signaled.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention generally relates to mobile vehicle navigation systems.More particularly, the present invention relates to the use of asatellite system for broadcasting updates on traffic information to amobile vehicle.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In recent years, great advances have been made in the area of onboardinformation services for mobile vehicles. Among these services are somethat supply the driver of the vehicle with information pertaining to thecurrent driving route. Services exist that calculate a route from thecurrent position to a requested destination. Other services exist thatallow one to predefine certain regularly used routes and to thendownload route information to the car when it is requested. Theseservices, when queried for route information, are capable of supplyingan alternate route based upon traffic obstructions—such as accidents ordelays due to construction—that exist when the route is requested.

Situations regularly occur, however, in which traffic obstructions ariseafter route information has been delivered to the vehicle. If the routeinformation service is not re-queried, the driver of the vehicle mayremain unawares of the new obstruction. It would be desirable to providea mobile vehicle with the ability to acquire information regardingupdated traffic information.

Information services are currently broadcast in some markets using RadioData Service (RDS) over Frequency Modulated (FM) radio. Servicessupplied in this manner may be referred to as FM/RDS services. FM/RDSservices use a subcarrier band on Frequency Modulated (FM) transmissionsto deliver data. These data may provide a text display of an FMstation's name or program details, may provide a table of frequencies tothe radio receiver for each station so that car radios can automaticallyre-tune to the strongest signal, and may also alert the driver totraffic problem reports. One limitation presented through the use ofFM/RDS is the relatively narrow broadcast range of standard FMtransmissions.

Satellite broadcasts may also contain data on a subcarrier band, and arenot subject to the same range limitations presented by standard FMtransmissions. The wide range of coverage achieved by satellitespresents separate challenges in regards to broadcasting information suchas traffic obstruction reports. The vast amount of data required totransmit all obstruction information within the satellite's broadcastarea is prohibitive to such an attempt when one considers the finite andlimited capacity available via the subcarrier band.

It would be desirable to provide a mobile vehicle with the ability toefficiently process the relevancy of traffic information, thisinformation having been broadcast efficiently using available satellitebandwidth. It would also be desirable to then provide the driver ofvehicle with the relevant information and allow the driver to request amore efficient route to the destination.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One aspect of the invention presents a method for receiving trafficupdate information and reroute information from a telematics servicecall center in a mobile vehicle. The mobile vehicle monitors a satellitebroadcast signal and extracts the traffic update information. If a unitin the mobile vehicle determines that the traffic update information ison a route, an alert signal is sent.

Another aspect of the invention presents a method for determiningrelevant traffic update information to broadcast in a mobile vehiclecommunication system via a satellite broadcast system. A telematicsservice call center receives traffic update information and compares thetraffic update information to a list of routes currently engaged bymobile vehicles in the mobile vehicle communication system. Thetelematics service call center then transmits the traffic updateinformation to a satellite radio uplink facility based upon thiscomparison.

Another aspect of the invention presents a computer usable mediumincluding a program for receiving traffic update information and rerouteinformation from a telematics service call center in a mobile vehicle.The program monitors a satellite broadcast signal and extracts trafficupdate information. If the program determines that the traffic updateinformation is on a route, an alert signal is sent.

Another aspect of the invention presents a computer usable mediumincluding a program for determining relevant traffic update informationto broadcast in a mobile vehicle communication system via a satellitebroadcast system. The program receives traffic update information at atelematics service call center and compares the traffic updateinformation to a list of routes currently engaged by mobile vehicles inthe mobile vehicle communication system. The program then transmits thetraffic update information to a satellite radio uplink facility basedupon this comparison.

Another aspect of the invention presents a system for receiving trafficupdate information and reroute information from a telematics servicecall center in a mobile vehicle including means for monitoring asatellite broadcast signal for the traffic update information; means forextracting the traffic update information; means for determining whetherthe traffic update information is on the route; and means for sending analert signal based on the determination.

Another aspect of the invention presents a system for determiningrelevant traffic update information to broadcast in a mobile vehiclecommunication system via a satellite broadcast system including meansfor receiving traffic update information at a telematics service callcenter; means for comparing the traffic update information to a list ofroutes currently engaged by mobile vehicles in the mobile vehiclecommunication system; and means for transmitting the traffic updateinformation to a satellite radio uplink facility based upon thecomparison.

The foregoing and other features and advantages of the invention willbecome further apparent from the following detailed description of thepresently preferred embodiment, read in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings. The detailed description and drawings are merelyillustrative of the invention rather than limiting, the scope of theinvention being defined by the appended claims and equivalents thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a mobilevehicle communication system, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of thecommunication devices, telematics service call center, satellite, andmobile vehicle communication system, in accordance with the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart representation of one embodiment of the standarddefinition and retrieval process for route and traffic obstructioninformation, in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a flowchart representation of one embodiment of an interactionbetween a telematics service call center, satellite system providingtraffic obstruction information, and a mobile vehicle, in accordancewith the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of a system for receiving trafficupdate information and reroute information from a telematics servicecall center, broadcast via satellite, in a mobile vehicle, in accordancewith the present invention, and may be referred to as a mobile vehiclecommunication system (MVCS) 100. Mobile vehicle communication system(MVCS) 100 may include a mobile vehicle 110, a telematics unit 120, asatellite radio receiver 140, one or more telematics service callcenters 150, one or more satellite radio service uplink facilities 160,one or more terrestrial radio transmitters 170, one or more satelliteradio service geostationary satellites 180, a cellular phone network,and a wireless carrier system 190.

Mobile vehicle 110 is a vehicle equipped with suitable hardware andsoftware for transmitting and receiving voice and data communications,as is well known in the art. Mobile vehicle 110 contains telematics unit120. Telematics unit 120 may include a digital signal processor (DSP)122 connected to a wireless analog, digital or dual-mode modem 124, aglobal positioning system (GPS) unit 126, an in-vehicle memory 128, amicrophone 130, one or more speakers 132, and a network access device(NAD) or in-vehicle mobile phone 134. In-vehicle mobile phone 134 may bean analog, digital, or dual-mode cellular phone. GPS unit 126 provideslongitude and latitude coordinates of the vehicle.

DSP 122 uses instructions and data from a computer usable medium thatmay contain various computer programs for controlling programming andoperational modes within mobile vehicle 110. Digital signals are used toactivate the programming mode and operation modes, as well as provideinput and output data.

Satellite radio receiver 140 is a combination of software and hardwarecapable of receiving satellite radio broadcast signals in mobile vehicle110, as is well known in the art. Satellite radio receiver 140 mayreceive digital signals from one or more terrestrial radio transmitters170, or from one or more satellite radio service geostationarysatellites 180. Satellite radio receiver 140 includes a radio receiverfor receiving broadcast radio information over one or more channels.Satellite radio receiver 140 may be embedded within or connected totelematics unit 120, and provide channel and signal information totelematics unit 120. Telematics unit 120 may monitor, filter and sendsignals that are received from satellite broadcasts, radio broadcasts orother wireless communication systems to output devices such as speaker132 and visual display devices.

Telemetric service call center 150 is a location where many calls may bereceived and serviced at the same time, or where many calls may be sentat the same time. The call center prescribes communications to and frommobile vehicle 110. Telematics service call center 150 may be a voicecall center, providing verbal communications between an advisor in thecall center and a subscriber in a mobile vehicle.

Telematics service call center 150 may contain one or more voice anddata switches 152. Switch 152 transmits voice or data transmissions fromcall center 150. Switch 152 also may receive voice or data transmissionsfrom telematics unit 120 in mobile vehicle 110 through wireless carriersystem 140, as is well known in the art. Switch 152 receives and sendsdata transmissions to and from one or more communication servicesmanagers 154 via one or more bus systems 160. Communication servicesmanager 154 is any suitable combination of hardware and software capableof providing requested communication services to telematics unit 120 inmobile vehicle 110. Communication services manager 154 may send to orreceive from many different entities including one or more communicationservices databases 156, one or more communication services advisors 158,all communicating over bus systems 160. Communication services advisor158 is configured to receive from or send to switch 152 voice or datatransmissions.

As part of a satellite broadcast system, a satellite radio uplinkfacility 160 sends and receives radio signals from a geostationarysatellite 180. Satellite radio uplink facility 160 uplinks trafficobstruction information from telematics service call center 150 alongwith other radio signals to one or more geostationary satellites 180,and one or more terrestrial radio transmitter or repeater stations 170via satellite.

Terrestrial radio transmitter or repeater station 170 and geostationarysatellite 180 transmit radio signals to satellite radio receiver 140 inmobile vehicle 110. Terrestrial radio transmitter or repeater station170 and geostationary satellite 180 may broadcast, for example, over aspectrum in the “S” band (2.3 GHz) that has been allocated by the U.S.Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for nationwide broadcasting ofsatellite-based Digital Audio Radio Service (DARS). The broadcast maybe, for example, a 120 kilobyte-per-second portion of the channelcapacity designated for commands signals from telematics service callcenter 150 to mobile vehicle 110.

Telematics unit 120 monitors satellite radio system broadcast signalsreceived by satellite radio receiver 140 for traffic obstructioninformation, and when this is detected, the traffic obstructioninformation is extracted from the broadcast channel. Telematics unit 120may store or retrieve data and information from the signals broadcast bysatellite radio receiver 140.

Wireless carrier system 140 is a wireless communications carrier such asa mobile telephone system. The mobile telephone system may be an analogmobile telephone system operating over a prescribed band nominally at800 MHz. Alternatively, the mobile telephone system may be a digitalmobile telephone system operating over a prescribed band nominally at800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1900 MHz, or any suitable band capable of carryingmobile communications. Wireless carrier system 140 transmits to andreceives signals from mobile vehicle 110. Wireless carrier system 140may be connected with other communication and landline networks.Telematics service call center 150 may be connected to wireless carriersystem 140 with a land-based network, a wireless network, or acombination of landline and wireless networks. In this manner, fullyduplex communication is achieved between telematics service call center150 and mobile vehicle 110.

In one example, mobile vehicle communication system (MVCS) 100 may beimplemented as an OnStar system, as is known in the art, with regards towireless communications between telematics service call center 150 andmobile vehicle 110. In one example, MVCS 100 may be implemented as an XMSatellite Radio system, as is known in the art, with regards to thesatellite radio and terrestrial digital radio communications.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the presentinvention at 200. Like components from FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are labeledidentically. The invention relates primarily to communication betweentelematics service call center 150, satellite radio uplink facility 160,geostationary satellite 180, and mobile vehicle 110.

A user of mobile vehicle 110, and more generally of MCVS 100,communicates with telematics service call center 150. The user maycommunicate via a personal computer 210 connected to telematics servicecall center 150 via a network, such as the Internet. Alternatively theuser may communicate with telematics service call center 150 via aland-based or cellular phone 220. Telematics service call center 150 mayhouse servers that store route information for the user, or theseservers may be accessible by telematics service call center 150 but heldat a different location.

Telematics service call center 150 receives traffic update information,comprising traffic obstruction information. Traffic obstructioninformation may relate to a vehicle accident, physical obstruction inthe roadway, traffic jam, or any other obstruction that may impedenormal traffic flow. In one embodiment, traffic obstruction informationincludes a precise location of a specific obstruction, an obstructedarea, roads affected by said obstruction, and other information relatingto the obstruction. Traffic obstruction information is communicated fromtelematics service call center 150 to satellite radio uplink facility160. The traffic obstruction information is then broadcast viaterrestrial radio transmitter or repeater station 170, or viageostationary satellite 180, to mobile vehicle 110. As trafficobstruction information relates to a location, it may be classified aslocated within a broadcast subarea, such as broadcast subareas 230, 240,and 250. A broadcast subarea is a defined geographic area, such as ametropolitan area. An example of possible broadcast areas might includebroadcast subarea 230 as the Chicago metropolitan area, broadcastsubarea 240 as the Los Angeles metropolitan area, and broadcast subarea250 as the New York metropolitan area. Information regarding any trafficobstruction may be designated as occurring within or relevant to one ormore broadcast subareas. At any time mobile vehicle 110 is locatedwithin the defined geographic area of zero, one, or multiple broadcastsubareas.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart representation of one embodiment of the standarddefinition and retrieval process for route and traffic obstructioninformation, in accordance with the present invention at 300. A user ofmobile vehicle 110 may at any time communicate with telematics servicecall center 150 to establish route information (Block 305). Routeinformation may include a place of origination, a destination, and adefined path to the destination. Route information may include anycombination of road names, distances, directions to turn, or otherinformation that may guide the user from the point of origination to thedestination. Route information held on the route information storage andretrieval system may be established or edited by a user of mobilevehicle 110 over a network using personal computer 210, land-based orcellular phone 220, telematics unit 120, in-vehicle mobile phone 134, orany other means provided by telematics service call center 150. In oneembodiment, telematics service call center 150 has a web site availableon the Internet, established as an interface with said route informationsystem, and accessible via personal computer 210.

In one embodiment, a user of mobile vehicle 110 contacts telematicsservice call center 150 when mobile vehicle 110 is to embark upon anestablished route. This contact may be achieved by the telematics unitin the mobile vehicle, and may consist of a query for route information(Block 310) pertaining to the established route. When said query isreceived at telematics service call center 150, telematics service callcenter 150 checks for a traffic obstruction (Block 315) on theestablished route. If telematics service call center 150 has trafficobstruction information that exists on the established route, telematicsservice call center 150 transmits reroute information (Block 320) tomobile vehicle 110. Reroute information is information providing analternate route to the destination, directing mobile vehicle 110 toavoid the traffic obstruction. If no traffic obstruction informationexists that is relevant to the requested route, telematics service callcenter 150 transmits the standard route information (Block 325) tomobile vehicle 110.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart representation of one embodiment for communicatingtraffic obstruction information, in accordance with the presentinvention at 400. Telematics service call center 150 communicatestraffic obstruction information to satellite radio uplink facility 160.The traffic update information may be broadcast (Block 405) viageostationary satellite 180 or via terrestrial radio transmitter orrepeater station 170.

In one embodiment, the traffic obstruction information is sent onchannel capacity of the standard satellite broadcast. In one embodiment,the traffic obstruction information is grouped by broadcast subarea 230,240, 250. In one embodiment, the grouped traffic obstruction informationmay be broadcast in slots, or time intervals, using a multiplexingstrategy such as Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA).

The route, or routes, currently being traveled are be determined bycollectively viewing those requested through a query for routeinformation (Block 310). Telematics service call center 150 may comparethe currently traveled route information with received trafficobstruction information. In one embodiment, telematics service callcenter 150 would only provide for broadcast traffic obstructioninformation that describes a traffic obstruction on a route, or routes,currently being traveled. Sending only this select information lowersthe bandwidth required for broadcasting the traffic obstructioninformation, freeing portions of said bandwidth for other uses.

Mobile vehicle 110 receives via satellite radio receiver 140 thebroadcast traffic obstruction information (Block 410). In oneembodiment, telematics unit 120, in conjunction with its componentglobal positioning system (GPS) unit 126, establishes in what broadcastsubarea, if any, mobile vehicle 110 is located. In one embodiment, thecurrent broadcast subarea of mobile vehicle 110 is used to select theappropriate TDMA encoded traffic obstruction information. The trafficobstruction information is processed (Block 415) by a telematics unit120. In one embodiment, telematics unit 120 processes the informationbased upon a defined route currently being traveled by mobile vehicle110. The route may be transmitted reroute information (Block 320) orstandard route information (Block 325) as described above.

Telematics unit 120 then determines if any of the processed trafficobstruction information indicates a traffic obstruction (Block 420)ahead on the route currently being traveled by mobile vehicle 110. Inone embodiment, if no obstruction exists, telematics unit 120 endsprocessing and waits for additional traffic obstruction informationupdates. In one embodiment, the telematics unit 120 may include in itsdetermination whether the obstruction lies ahead of the mobile vehicle,or whether it has already been passed. In one embodiment, if telematicsmodule 120 determines that there is a traffic obstruction en route, themodule sends an alert signal (Block 425). An alert signal is any visualor audible signal that indicates to the mobile vehicle user that atraffic obstruction is on the current route. In one embodiment, thealert signal may be an audible signal such as a tone, or may be anaudible message. Alternatively, the alert signal may be a visual cuesuch as a flashing light, or text display on a dashboard or a heads updisplay. In one embodiment the alert signal may include informationregarding the traffic obstruction such as the type of obstruction andthe mobile vehicle's proximity to the traffic obstruction. In oneembodiment the alert signal includes a reroute request query. A rerouterequest query is any alert signal that indicates to a user that the usermay wish to request new route information.

In one embodiment, a user of mobile vehicle 110 determines whether ornot to request reroute information (Block 430). In one embodiment, ifthe user determines not to request reroute information, the mobilevehicle user may later receive alert signals based on the same trafficobstruction. In one embodiment, the mobile vehicle user may specificallydecline to receive an alert signal based on a previously reportedtraffic obstruction. The user may alternatively determine to requestreroute information (Block 435). Reroute information is then provided tothe mobile vehicle user.

The above-described methods and implementation for receiving trafficupdate information and reroute information from a telematics servicecall center in a mobile vehicle are example methods and implementations.These methods and implementations illustrate one possible approach forreceiving traffic update information and reroute information from atelematics service call center in a mobile vehicle. Moreover, variousother improvements and modifications to this invention may occur tothose skilled in the art, and those improvements and modifications willfall within the scope of this invention as set forth below.

While embodiments of the invention disclosed herein are presentlyconsidered to be preferred, various changes and modifications can bemade without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thescope of the invention is indicated in the appended claims, and allchanges that come within the meaning and range of equivalents areintended to be embraced therein.

1. A method for receiving traffic update information and rerouteinformation from a telematics service call center in a mobile vehicle,comprising: monitoring a satellite broadcast signal for the trafficupdate information; extracting the traffic update information;determining whether the traffic update information is on a route; andsending an alert signal based on the determination.
 2. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the alert signal comprises a reroute request query. 3.The method of claim 1 wherein the traffic update information isdelivered on a subcarrier band of the satellite broadcast signal.
 4. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the traffic update information is broadcast ina multiplexed encoding scheme based upon location.
 5. The method ofclaim 4 wherein the multiplexed encoding scheme uses TDMA.
 6. The methodof claim 2 further comprising: monitoring for a response to the routerequest query; transmitting a route update request to the telematicsservice call center based on an affirmative response to the routerequest query; and receiving reroute information from the telematicsservice call center.